The present invention relates to a system and method for handling sessions, or requests for sessions, of a specific type such as emergency sessions.
Generally, one or several numbers defining one or more specific services, e.g. emergency service, may be stored in a user equipment, e.g. in SIM/USIM (Subscriber Identity Module/User Service Identity Module) of a mobile terminal (mobile equipment ME). When a SIM/USIM is present, subscriber specific emergency call set-up MMI (Man Machine Interface) is normally provided for establishing emergency session in case of need. An Home Environment operator specifies preferred emergency call MMI(s) (e.g. 911 for US citizens or 110, 118 and 119 for Japanese citizens). This information can be stored in the SIM/USIM. When entering digits for establishing a session, the ME compares the entered digits with the stored information and sets up a specific connection, e.g. an emergency call when detecting that the entered number indicates the desire to establish the specific connection, e.g. is an emergency number. It is usually possible to store more than one emergency number.
However, there may exist cases where the user equipment or a network element, e.g. P-CSCF, involved in handling a requested session is unable to detect that the session is of a specific type requesting specific treatment, such as an emergency session. This may be the case when e.g. the UE has not itself detected that an intended session is e.g. an emergency session (i.e. Emergency call MMIs stored in SIM/USIM do not contain these digits) and the contacted network, e.g. IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), does not support emergency services. In particular when a user roams to another network (e.g. roams to a different country), it is possible that an emergency number in the roamed network is same as a service number in the user's home network. E.g. when the dialed number is a service number in one country and an emergency number in another country, the above failure of not detecting a requested specific connection type requiring specific handling may arise.
As explained above, numbers indicating a session or service of a specific type, e.g. an emergency number in the roamed network, may or can possibly not be stored in the USIM/SIM/mobile equipment. This would lead to a case where a user dials an emergency number and the UE is not able to detect, due to overlapping numbers, an emergency call attempt. The UE then sends session setup message towards a network, e.g. an intermediate network such as IMS network, without signaling or indicating the specific session type, e.g. emergency type. In some cases a controlling network element such as P-CSCF or S-CSCF involved in establishing the intended session is also unable to detect an emergency session attempt. When the intermediate network or another involved network such as the user's home network also does not support, or does not detect, the desired specific service type, e.g. emergency services, the session attempt is incorrectly processed.